Gay Marriage Is Joyous, but Gay Divorce Is ... Tricky

Gay marriage continues to make huge strides in the nation, as is clear across New York state today. Now if only gay divorce could catch up. As NPR explains, same-sex couples who split often run into a world of legal hassles unknown to their hetero counterparts. The problem usually involves two kinds of gay couples: an out-of-state pair who travels to a state where it's legal to marry; or couples who marry legally in their own state, but then move away.

If their new states don't recognize gay marriage, the couples are out of luck if they want a divorce. "It's strange. It puts me in emotional and legal limbo," says a Rhode Island woman who married her partner in Massachusetts but split three years later. They can't just go back to Massachusetts for a quick divorce, either; they'd need to live there a year to get one. Child custody cases can be a mess, and taxes, too: The federal government doesn't recognize gay marriage, which means the IRS doesn't, either. (More same-sex couples stories.)